


a flame against the night

by Mia_Zeklos



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8940859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Zeklos/pseuds/Mia_Zeklos
Summary: "Lydia, much to Isabelle’s surprise, wasn’t as detached from the rest of the world – the mundane part of it, that is – as she’d expected. It made sense, when she thought about it; Lydia had wanted to be Head of the Institute and that required a bit more knowledge about the human world than living in Idris did, but she hadn’t expected her to be too familiar with New York."





	

Lydia, much to Isabelle’s surprise, wasn’t as detached from the rest of the world – the mundane part of it, that is – as she’d expected. It made sense, when she thought about it; Lydia had wanted to be Head of the Institute and that required a bit more knowledge about the human world than living in Idris did, but she hadn’t expected her to be too familiar with New York.

“Don’t worry,” Lydia had said, still a bit mystified when it came to Isabelle’s intentions. “I’ve done my research.”

That was Lydia’s response to pretty much everything, but Isabelle didn’t let that discourage her. There was a difference between knowing New York and _knowing_ New York and she was more than ready to show her girlfriend that.

 _Girlfriend_. Even after a month, the thought still sounded strange; as if she was dreaming and she was always on the verge of waking up without actually wanting to. When she looked back at the last few months of her life, Isabelle could barely wrap her mind around everything they’d gone through and she was sure that she wasn’t the only one. It felt like she’d only met Lydia yesterday and everything – the almost-wedding, Jace’s disappearance, the war and the leftovers of it – had been nothing but a fever hallucination that she could tuck away in the back of her mind if she tried hard enough.

And yet, it was all there. The scars – mental and physical; on her and on everyone else – were proof enough for that. It was one of the many reasons why she’d decided that Christmas shopping was in order and why she’d decided to surprise Lydia with a date at the same time. She’d heard mundanes call situations like this one _killing two birds with one stone_ and I sounded especially appropriate now. They’d initially got together in the middle of the war and now that everyone had the chance to take a breath, Isabelle remembered that she hadn’t used the opportunity to take her out on a proper date before the world somehow managed to start ending once again.

Everything step leading up to their free afternoon together had been carefully planned. Alec had agreed to cover up for Lydia’s absence – now that they were back to leading the Institute back to back, he could do pretty much anything he wanted unless it went on for too long – and she’d convinced Jace into covering the CCTV duty for her for at least a few hours. If she was lucky, they’d manage to go the entire evening without being interrupted by anyone’s phone. She’d told all of that to Lydia already and the quiet scepticism had only fuelled her determination for things to go seamlessly.

“So,” Lydia spoke once they’d left the Institute and had headed down to the gate that separated them from the rest of the world, “where is it that we’re going, exactly?”

“You’ll see.” Isabelle had spent a fair share of her free time shopping in between missions – the only sort of non-work related free time she’d allowed herself – and now considered herself an expert. She could see that Lydia wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with the idea either, going just by her makeup and clothes, but it wasn’t enough. “We have to go Christmas shopping.”

“Christmas? Really?” Lydia had raised an eyebrow at her; Isabelle could imagine her expression clearly even without looking at her. It was the expression saved for Isabelle’s more extravagant ideas and apparently she’d decided that this was one of them. “I didn’t think we’d be doing anything for Christmas. We, as an Institute,” she clarified. “After everything that happened...”

“We need that exactly because of everything that happened, don’t you think?” No one liked to talk about any of what had happened, but it was inevitable; the war had left its fingertips over all of them and there were still reminders of it everywhere, even if they didn’t want to see them. Ignoring problems wasn’t the Shadowhunter way, as Isabelle’s mother had told her time and time again; they had to face them no matter the consequences.

So this was what she was planning to do. Thankfully, Lydia didn’t seem to need to hear all of that; understanding each other with little to no words was one of the things that had immediately drawn them to one another, after all. “Okay then,” was all she said. “Let’s go. I’m glad you’re with me, actually; I have no idea what to get for your brother.”

“I don’t either, but don’t worry,” Isabelle laughed as they went out on the street. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

**o.O.o**

One thing Isabelle _hadn’t_ managed to learn about Lydia before that day was the fact that she really wasn’t used to being seen by mundanes. Especially by large groups of mundanes that bumped into them all the time in a constant reminder that they weren’t alone and – what was more important – that they weren’t invisible.

“Why are they so,” Lydia was interrupted by someone’s handbag hitting her in the elbow and she closed her eyes in a gesture Isabelle was familiar enough with by now to know that she was trying to keep herself under control. “Why are they so disorganised?”

“It’s just how they are,” Isabelle shrugged. “And it’s near Christmas. They’re excited, and everyone always shops in the last possible moment. It’s the law.”

“What, really?”

Izzy turned around, expecting to see a smile and then laughed at her girlfriend’s perplexed expression. “No. They’re not _that_ weird. But it’s just... a thing. It’s like that every year. We’re here too, aren’t we?”

“I suppose we are,” Lydia conceded. “I think we got everything. I think there was a cafe you mentioned...”

“There is,” Isabelle confirmed, taking her hand to lead her out of the shopping centre. “Follow me.”

**o.O.o**

The place she’d chosen wasn’t one she frequented with everyone else, even if she hadn’t told Lydia that. She’d wanted it to be _special_ ; something that the two of them could share without everyone else also barging in. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them – she did, and so did Lydia – but for once, she wanted nothing more than a little peace.

“I can get us drinks,” she offered and Lydia nodded, eyes still locked on the menu in front of her. Wherever she’d lived before arriving in New York, it was clear that she hadn’t been _too_ in touch with the local culture. It was all the better, really; it gave Isabelle the chance to keep surprising her. Hopefully, that would be a better surprise than trying to navigate through numerous crowded stores for hours on end, and she made sure of that by piling on as much Christmas-related additions to Lydia’s usually pure black coffee.

“Here you go,” she said, handing her the drink. The warmth from the cup was already seeping into her, making her forget about the snowstorm that was clearly starting behind the closed windows and she sat back next to Lydia, chancing a look in her general direction. Maybe it wasn’t the cup, she thought, and was surprised by how unsurprised that left her.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, @agentoliviascully! I was planning to use more of your prompts for this, but sadly didn't have the time. I hope you enjoy it!


End file.
